Oven på den kontroversielle sag med spillets aggressive mikrotransaktioner, stod det klart at Star Wars Battlefront II ikke helt ville møde EA's uden tvivl skyhøje salgsforventinger. Nu viser det sig desuden, at forskellige organisationer der specialiserer sig i at spore bevægelserne på markedet, også sænker deres salgsestimater - deriblandt Cowen.
For nylig afslørede Doug Creutz fra det respekterede firma nemlig, via en besked på firmaets hjemmeside, at de sænker salgsestimatet, og at det skyldes forbrugernes reaktion på mikrotransaktioner.
"We are lowering our FY18 estimates to below management's guidance as we believe that Star Wars Battlefront 2's performance (lower units + the indefinite delay of microtransactions) has been disappointing enough to more than offset any strength elsewhere in the model.
The negative player reaction to the mishandled loot box economy has clearly impacted SWBFII sales. We think this is evidence that the industry's core gamer constituency is getting increasingly unhappy about the degree to which microtransactions are being shoehorned into core gameplay loops.
Even factoring in the shift to digital units, it seems pretty likely that initial total sales will wind up being 20%-30% behind the pace of the original Battlefront, with bigger-than-normal price cuts also likely needed to move inventory. We think that the poorly reviewed Need for Speed Payback is probably underperforming as well."
Noget tyder altså på, at pengemændene har brandt nallerne.